Tua Tagovailoa called out by ex-Dolphin after | Sports News

Tua Tagovailoa’s postgame podium remarks following Miami’s slender 29-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers have stirred rigidity within the Dolphins’ locker room — and now a former teammate has stepped ahead with a sharp rebuttal.

In the press convention, Tagovailoa, who’s going through calls to be benched for Quinn Ewers, criticized inside self-discipline within the crew, saying, “Well, I think it starts with the leadership in helping articulate that for the guys, and then what we’re expecting out of the guys. 

“We’re expecting this. Are we getting that? Are we not getting that? We have guys showing up to player-only meetings late. Guys not showing up to player-only meetings. There is a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make that mandatory? Do we not have to make that mandatory? So it’s a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up. It starts with the little things like that.” It comes as Stephen A. Smith orders the Dolphins to fire coach Mike McDaniel.

As Miami sat at 1-5 on the season, Tagovailoa’s tone was understandably frustrated, but the public airing of grievances quickly raised eyebrows.

McDaniel responded on Monday, calling Tagovailoa’s platform for criticism “misguided” and suggesting that the locker room — not the mic — ought to have been the venue for addressing such points.

“I believe regardless of intent and what was on Tua’s thoughts after a loss, because the franchise quarterback that is not the discussion board to displace that — I believe he is aware of that,” McDaniel said. 

“Now, I do actually imagine there was no ailing intention, however you are speaking about, I believe, a misguided illustration of player-orchestrated movie periods. The backside line is no one’s going to be completely happy and at all times are in search of causes for failure to succeed. So you are attempting to search for causes that you could attribute to losses and heavy is the crown of being a franchise quarterback.”

Enter DaeSean Hamilton, a former Dolphins receiver with a brief stint in Miami, who wasted no time pushing back. 

On social media, Hamilton wrote that Tagovailoa’s himself was late to the first team meeting during Hamilton’s “three-second” tenure with the Dolphins in 2022 — successfully calling out a lack of consistency between Tagovailoa’s phrases and previous actions.

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“This dude…the starting QB…was late to the first team meeting during my 3 seconds on the Dolphins,” Hamilton posted. 

Some former gamers agreed: Devin McCourty called it the improper stage for criticism, insisting management is best exercised behind closed doorways — not on digital camera.

“I hated every bit of that. Tua, you’re a captain of this team, you’re a quarterback,” McCourty stated, a former cornerback turned NBC analyst. “Go handle it. Get in the locker room, call those guys out by name. … Go fix it in-house. I think that’s true leadership.”